Bladud and the Pigs

Long ago, before there were any towns in that part of England, there lived a young prince named Bladud. His father was the king, and his mother, the queen, loved him dearly.

One day, Bladud woke up with an itchy rash all over his skin. It itched and itched, and no medicine could make it better. The king’s doctors worried that other people might catch it too. “Bladud must go away for a while,” they said sadly, “until he is well again.” Before he left, the queen gave Bladud her gold ring. “Keep this safe,” she said, “so that I will know you when you come home.”

Bladud walked a long way from the palace, wearing plain, old clothes. At last he came to a farm on a hillside by a river. “Do you need a helper?” he asked the farmer. “I need someone to look after my pigs,” said the farmer, and so Bladud became a swineherd.

Bladud took good care of the pigs, and the pigs liked him very much. But after a while, the pigs began to scratch, and soon they had an itchy rash, just like his. Bladud was worried, but the pigs did not seem to mind at all.

One cold morning, the pigs ran off down the hill, squealing and grunting. Bladud ran after them, all the way to a muddy place by the river. There, warm steam was rising up out of the ground, and the mud was bubbling. The pigs rolled and wallowed in the warm mud, and they looked very happy indeed. When they climbed out and shook themselves, their skin was smooth and pink again!

“If it can help the pigs, perhaps it can help me,” thought Bladud. So he stepped into the warm water and washed himself all over. He did this every day, and soon the itchy rash was gone.

Bladud thanked the farmer and walked all the way back to the palace. The guards did not know him in his old clothes, but he dropped the gold ring into the queen’s cup of milk. When the queen saw her ring, she cried out with joy and hugged her son.

Years later, when Bladud became king himself, he went back to the warm springs. He built a town around them, so that everyone could come and bathe in the warm water. That town is called Bath, and people still visit its warm springs today.